Forgiven In Pain
by Scarlet Dew Lily
Summary: Wheatly is stranded in space, missing Chell with all his heart. He has been trying to tune out Kevin, but when the silence comes, he has to deal with the pain of being alone. Chelley.
1. Chapter 1

Space was cold, colder than the cryogenic storage wing. It _should _have been lonely. Wheatley actually wanted it to be lonely. Well, not lonely in the sense of painful, but more in the sense of... quiet. Hadn't someone told him that there is no noise in space? Damn Aperture technology... He would be content... ELATED. He would have been elated if he never had to hear anyones voice again. Coming from someone who can't shut up... Well, there was one person's voice he wouldn't have minded hearing again. Well, not _again _really, he'd never heard _her _speak before. Wished he had. Could've had it on eternal replay, one word. Really, one word would have been perfect. Any word really, even space, if it came from _her _lips. Even if she'd said, _I hate you..._ Could've worked with that. But nothing? Only her face. Her perfect face... He wished he had something more. Her laugh... he tried to imagine it. It would be amazing, just like the rest of her. Only now that he was out of the haze of euphoria and testing compulsions, corruption, could he see the true amount of damage his actions had caused. They'd been so close, so close to freedom. He'd betrayed her, gone and messed everything up, just like he always did. Designed to make bad decisions. She was right. He could have left with her, could've stolen an android body- or! Or, better, a body from cryogenic storage. Could've held her in his arms, kissed those lips that he _knew _would speak so perfectly... Better than testing euphoria, so he'd heard. Organic euphoria. He wasn't quite sure what it was, not enough files on it, but he knew that seeing her made him feel... good. Better than good. And he wasn't even organic. He could be laying in bed with her, their bodies touching, skin on skin. Instead he hadgone and made a bloody mess of it all, broke her trust, broke her _heart. _And instead of in bed with her, he was in space with... _Kevin._ Who never stopped talking about space, literally, never. On and on, yes, so much space. Uh huh, got it. Yes. Stars. He had tried to tune him out, turn off his receivers or something. That would have been nice, silence. But no, Aperture had decided to go and put a password on that. And if he'd learned anything in the past few months, it was that that password was unhackable. He'd tried everything, even going off the norm, trying GLaDOS, or APERTURE, even LEMONS. Nothing. So he'd been forced to become painfully accustomed to the never ending rambling about space. So he was surprised when the sudden silence made him a little queasy.

"Kevin, you there mate?"

"Yes." Relief flooded Wheatley's body, seeing how the_ thought_ of being alone in space... was much better than the _reality _of being _alone _in space.

"Thinking. About space. And about stars. And about home. Home. Earth. Earth. Wanna go home. To earth, wanna go home. Don't like space no more. Space to big. Space to cold."

"Yeah, I want to go home to. But we're both stranded up here, in space."

"Yep. In space. Both of us. In space. Alone in space." Wheatley wondered what he meant by that, alone. They weren't alone. And what had sparked this sudden change in him? Months of going on and on about space, then out of the blue, bam, nope. Doesn't like space anymore. It was more than suspicious really, and he should have seen it coming. He did see it coming. Still, he winced at the sight of it. Kevin's optic flickered, and a gauge on his side blinked an alarming red. He was dying. Not dying in the sense _she _could die, he could be fixed. But not up here, not in space. Nobody would fix him up here. Wheatley gave him a few hours. That wasn't a lot of time to get used to the idea that your only companion was dying in front of you, and after he was gone, you were alone in space. Forever. Forever is a long time to be stranded in space. The reality that he too had limited power, well... dying seemed pretty inviting at this point. He was almost jealous of the little orange core, getting to just slowly fade out of consciousness. But the pain of watching the only other sentient thing within seemingly infinite space die, was more than disturbing. He heard Kevin's voice falter,

"Alone in space. Space so... cold. Space so... lonely... alone... in... space. Can't... So... Cold... Keep me warm? Keep me warm... space... Don't... Let me... Alone... So alone so cold so, so tired. Let... me... close... my... eyes... space... space blanket... so cold... let... me... go...-" Wheatly could feel his processor running as it tried to keep the simulated emotions from... These emotions didn't feel simulated. Not at all. This was pain. This was real, true pain, real empathy, real sadness. And it hurt. It hurt like someone had just ripped his mechanics to shreds, leaving him raw and empty. He felt like crying. But he couldn't cry, couldn't ease the discomfort of watching... _that._ Crying was a human ability, and right now he wished so bad he could be human, so he could let these brimming feelings flow out his eyes onto his cheeks. Which he did not have. He simply tried his best to keep from dying right there from the pure PAIN. He longed to hear her voice. He imagined her telling him it would be... all right. That the pain would fade away... just like his life- He snapped, his internal machinations working overtime to keep him from going into shock. He felt the cold cover him... the space blanket. He felt himself losing control, and let it happen. What was the point, anyways? Nobody cared, nobody loved him, nobody would know... He let the ice fill his system, freezing his emotions, yet he still hurt. Still felt... remembered. It still stung. He closed his optic, letting the darkness fill his senses, letting himself fade into the blackness. He felt sobs rack his body as he heard the most beautiful voice singing... it was perfect. He knew it was _her _voice. It had to be. He let the words fill his mind, let the soft gentle singing carry him out of consciousness...

_Sweet forgiveness, _

_Let it fill your soul, _

_Ebbing gentle bliss,_

_Let it take control._

_You are forgiven,_

_My lover, my friend,_

_My love it is driven,_

_To you till the end,_

_Forgiveness my lover, _

_Forgiveness my friend,_

_There is no other,_

_This is not the end. _

_Forgiven for all that has happened,_

_I send you my heart,_

_Though time has you saddened,_

_I bring you a fresh start._

_Forgiven my lover, forgiven my friend. _

The words brought a sense of happiness and peace to him, and as he took one last... _breath... _he felt a _tear _ trail down his _cheek _and reached his _hand _to his _face_, the melody carrying him into the bittersweet darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

He heard voices. Was this... android hell? If it was, why had _she _sung to him? He ached all over, can't you only hurt when you're alive? Yep... definitely hurt. So, the question was, where was he? He tried to open his _eyes_, but it was too painful. He settled for listening to the voices talk with each other. One was the voice that had sung to him, the other, he quickly realized, was Her. As this sunk in, he was filled with panic, a burning desire to run out of there as fast as his _legs _could carry him. Of course, he had to settle for _breathing _heavier, trying to squeeze his _eyes _closed, to disappear. If She saw him, he'd be dead meat. He'd destroyed her precious facility, and She wanted revenge. His _hair _stood on end, just thinking about all the ways she could painfully kill him. Where was he? It didn't feel like Aperture, that place normally had a distinct feeling, something in his programming he supposed. He didn't feel that right now. He decided that if he listened, he might figure something out,

"Look, I'm not going to let you torture him! If you can forgive me, and I can forgive you, I'm sure you can look past his mistakes. Besides, he's been floating around in space for months, he watched Kevin die, don't you think that's punishment enough?"

"That little IDIOT destroyed my facility, he tried to kill both of us, he BETRAYED you. Don't you think he needs to be punished SO MUCH MORE?"

"No, he's had plenty of time to think about what he did, I'm sure he's sorry. That should be enough, just let him go."

"I think we both know that isn't going to happen. You had your chance to hold onto him and you let him go flying into the dark vastness of space. Now it's time for him to face the consequences of his actions."

"I passed out! You may not need to breathe, but I do, and space is more than a little lacking in oxygen." Wheatley could feel his _heart _beat a little faster. He felt a smile tug at his _lips_. She HAD forgiven him. The realization of this was enough to make the pain fade. He wanted to _run _over to her and throw his _arms _around her. He wanted to press his _face _into her hair and _smell _her scent. He never wanted to be away from her again. He tried to call out to her, still not sure of his location.

"Ohhhhhh..." He moaned as the strain of opening his mouth sent needles through his _spine. _

"GLaDOS? He's awake. Look, just forget everything... leave him alone. Don't follow me. Okay?" Wheatley could imagine the scowl on Her face, arms crossed as She let Chell have her way. It made him grin so wide he thought his _lips _would tear. He heard her footsteps, the heels of her long-fall boots clacking against the familiar metal floor of Aperture Laboratories. Her breathing was close to his face, warm and comforting. She leaned over him. He tried to open one of his _eyes _so he could see her face. Her form slowly came into focus, her crystal eyes, her porcelain skin edged with cormorant hair. She spoke,

"Are you okay? It took forever for me to convince her that you'd suffered long enough already. I did it though. So, how are you feeling?"

"Ahhhh owowwo sorry..sorry... think I may have broken a cable or something..." He heard her laugh. Made a note to keep that forever. Never wanted to lose that beautiful sound.

"You haven't noticed yet?"

"Noticed what?"

"You're human!" She giggled, slowly lifting up one of his hands so he could see it.

"What? No..nononononono I can't be human! I haven't the slightest idea how to be human!"

"You'll learn."

"Don't think I will, not the best at figuring things out..."

"I'll help." Chell said, in the most determined voice he'd ever heard.

"Well, thanks for that. I suppose. Thought I was a goner for a while there, really didn't think I was ever going to see sunlight again, let alone... you. And look at you! Amazing as the day I met you! Er... sorry... never mind. That was **not **your best day...but, um... now! Right! You look... wow. Yep. That about sums it up..." She laughed again. He smiled, content to be able to make her happy.

"Yeah, I found a body in cryogenic storage, one I thought suited you. How about you come have a look?" She tried to pull him up, yanking on one of his long thin arms. He winced,

"Would you mind... being a little more careful? Please? Still, um, getting used to the whole, pain... everywhere really, and I'm not even quite sure where **everywhere **is.. so, do try to be careful..."

"Sorry! I guess I'm a little eager to see what you look like in the light, I mean, now that you're you." Chell was grinning, still tightly holding onto his arm. He slowly sat up, trying to figure out what everything did. _Arms, yes. Good for pushing yourself up... back... good at... well, bending mostly. Head, not quite sure what that's doing... legs... yes. Good for walking I suppose. That's what she uses them for anyways. Feet? For standing on. Hands... holding stuff. Neck... holding my head, still not sure what that's for. Why is my chest... vibrating? What am I doing with... breathing... that's new. New and weird. Going to take a while to get used to that. Wonder what happens if I just... forget to breathe? Not very good programming. How do you remember to breathe when you're sleeping? Again, the vibrating... heart! Heartbeat. Yes. Is it supposed to be that... fast? I wouldn't know... _His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a very familiar android. He knew it was Her. Even if she looked completely different. This body just somehow... fit Her.

"Look, Moron. I know that we both said a lot of things you're going to regret, and don't take this to mean I like you, trust me, I don't. But I... need to... _forgive_ you... For Science." The words seemed painful, as if she was speaking barbed wire. Her clenched synthetic teeth only furthered his theory. It was so good to hear those words from her. So fulfilling, absolutely nothing could break this moment for him. Even what he had to do next,

"Yeah, I'm... sorry too. I'm sorry for destroying your facility, and almost blowing everyone up... I'm sorry for being such a moron, and..." His apology was now aimed a Chell, a much less forced apology, "I'm sorry for betraying you, and for making you test, I was just... I'm sorry... I don't even know how you forgave me, I sure wouldn't forgive me, if I were you... of course, I'm not you... but, if I was, I would... not... forgive me. And, uh, you know what I mean." Chell nodded, her eyes looked glassier than usual. She was still standing beside his bed, and she leaned over, took him in her arms, and hugged him as hard as she could.

"I'm never going to let you go again..." Wheatley stiffened at first, more than a little surprised by her reaction. He'd been expecting to get slapped or something. This... this was nice. He could get used to this. He breathed in her scent, she smelled of flowers and sunlight, and life. He wondered what he smelled like. Probably terrible. He probably looked terrible too.

"So, said you wanted to see what I looked like in the light?" He said, as her grip loosened. He began to stand up, fighting off the pain, for _her. _GLaDOS could have her science, she could do everything for her precious _science. _He would happily do anything for Chell. GLaDOS, still in complete control of the facility (of course) with nothing more than the blink of an eye, pulled over a full length mirror. Wheatley sheepishly glanced at his own reflection. Even though he knew he was human, he still half expected to see his old core body staring back at him. He looked at his messy mop of light brown, almost ginger, hair, and his piercing blue eyes.

"This is... different..." He was tall, now, not _just_ tall mind you, he was _**tall. **_Taller than anyone he'd ever seen before, not that he'd seen many people of course. Or many of anything else for that matter... Still, he was taller than Chell, and taller than GLaDOS. And that made him feel a little to powerful. It brought back quite a few memories he'd like to shove down into the incinerator and never think of again.

"Why am I so... tall?" He asked Chell.

"I don't know, I just thought this body fit you, I didn't think much about it. I just went with my instincts."

"Well, it's... very... different. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, not at all... Very grateful.. on the whole, rescuing me form space thing... but this is going to take a whole lot of practice, the walking... and everything else." He still hurt, hurt like he was walking on glass. Like the wing of glass had gone and broken itself again, 15 acres of the horrid stuff. And on top of that, it felt like he was slowly being pecked apart by birds. Though he sure as hell didn't give the gift of knowledge to man... didn't steal it either. He wasn't smart enough to have done that... especially since he never would have even been able to get five feet from the human he'd taken it from. Unless he fell over, he guessed he was quite a bit over six feet, and if her fell flat out, he'd be able to make it further than five feet... Unless of course falling didn't count as getting anywhere, which he supposed it didn't. Just counted as being clumsy. Yes, falling over. That would be much easier in this body. Though not necessarily any safer. Either way, it was much more possible. He'd never seen Chell fall. She just kept going... It was amazing really, she was so stubborn. When she wanted something, it gone done. See, with him, anything he wanted, generally got done, and then went horribly wrong. GLaDOS walked up behind him, he saw her glaring behind him in the mirror.

"Done admiring yourself, Moron? You know, you're really nothing special, just a body from cryogenic storage. Not even a particularly good one, though we can blame that on Fatty over here. She had hundreds of choices, and she chose this one. What does that say about how much she cares?" GLaDOS said in her ever calm, ever insulting voice.

"I like it." Wheatley said defensively.

"Good, because you're stuck with it for the next 60 some years, less if we're lucky." Chell gave GLaDOS a slightly annoyed look, then turned her attention back to Wheatley.

"She said she'd bring you back, but there is a catch..."


	3. Chapter 3

A catch, right. He should have seen it coming, this was GLaDOS they were dealing with. Chell didn't look to worried though, so he knew it couldn't be torture or anything like that. It had to be something that would satisfy the sadistic android, but not so strict that Chell would simply murder Her and run off with him. At the moment, he had no idea what the catch could be. Nothing could be such a contrasting mix of severe and mild. He suddenly had the funniest mental of Chell sneaking up behind Her and whacking Her in the head with a frying pan, just not dealing with Her crazy plans. Of course, that was never going to happen. Aperture didn't believe in cooking. So he just stood there, watching the two of them exchange looks, as though they hadn't yet agreed on the circumstances. This worried him, as her apology had certainly not been sincere. Knowing her, she would end up killing both of them with deadly neurotoxin to "further the cause of science." He shot Chell a nervous glance, but her calm crystal gaze quickly reassured him. He would be safe, she wasn't going to let GLaDOS hurt him.

"Keeping the fact that _I _let you come back in mind, Moron, you mess up ONCE, and all deals are off. I'm being very generous and trust me, I don't need to be. One mistake and it's off to android hell. Don't think I'm lying. I wouldn't lie about _this._" She practically hissed the last word, her whole being exuding pure hatred for him. The fact that she could do nothing to him, for fear of losing her best test subject, made him want to laugh. He figured this wouldn't be a good time though. Her yellow eyes were watching him like a hawk, searching for the slightest mistake she could call him out on. Speaking of losing Chell, hadn't She promised to let her go? All those months ago... he hadn't been able to touch the lower levels of Aperture, but he could sure as hell hear what was going on. And he clearly remembered Her promising Chell freedom. Of course, the A.I was a pathological liar, but she'd seemed to be telling the truth right then. Had Chell... come back? The thought made his skin crawl. If she had, why? She'd spent ages trying to escape, only to return after being granted a hassle free ride to the surface? Was something up there more terrifying than Aperture? He didn't see how that was possible, but there didn't seem to be any other logical reason for her return. Unless... had she come back for _him_? He hoped not, he'd hate to be what spoiled her freedom, especially since he'd kept her from it in the first place. His thoughts were interrupted by Chell, who he decided could read minds,

"I know you're wondering why I'm back here. And I know you think it's your fault. Don't worry. I came back because, it turns out Black Mesa screwed up pretty bad. I figured I had a better chance, surprisingly, surviving down here." He knew this was meant to comfort him, it was what he'd wanted to hear after all. But he still felt uneasy, so she hadn't come back for him? Did that mean she didn't care what GLaDOS did to him? No, that was stupid. If she hadn't cared, he'd still be floating around in space. Unless Chell hated him as much as GLaDOS did and they were both planning to torture him... He shook the paranoid thoughts away, Chell was nothing like Her. He couldn't imagine her torturing anyone. She simply did what she needed to. Never making anything more painful then it needed to be. Including the way she'd killed Her. As she noticed his anxious expression, she gently took hold of his hand and said,

"Of course, I came back for you too. But don't feel bad, I would have come back, even if we'd escaped together." He knew she hadn't meant anything by it, but it still stung.

"Right, so, the catch?" He said, trying to keep his mind off the past.

"Yeah, since She's short on humans, She hasn't had much of a chance to study their social habits. So we'll be... testing. But not cube and button based. She wants to see us interact. And I think she's hoping for _very _close interaction." Chell glared over at GLaDOS, who was rolling her eyes at Wheatley's completely oblivious expression.

"I see you aren't getting what I'm saying... I'm not sure how to explain it though..." Chell was not very good at explaining these sorts of things. She much preferred things that had one straight answer. Not a multitude of possible awkward situations.

"Okay, Moron, since Fatty seems unable to explain the circumstances, not surprising, considering her brain damage, I'm going to tell you right out. I want the two of you to be sexually intimate." Despite GLaDOS' attempt at making the situation as blatantly obvious as possible, Wheatley remained confused.

"What do you mean? More hugging? That's it? Are you sure that's al- I mean, um, yes. Very informative stuff... hugging. Definitely worth quite a bit of scientific research." At this point even Chell was ready to roll her eyes.

"That isn't what she means-" Chell was cut off by GLaDOS' thoroughly annoyed voice,

"There are two of you, one is male, one is female. I _know _they programmed you with at least a basic understanding of human mating protocol."

"That? We have to do THAT?" Wheatley looked horrified.

"I don't see why you're so upset. I suspected you of all people to enjoy such-" Chell cut the A.I off, finally fed up with her attitude.

"She doesn't expect us to do it now. She wants to see us form a relationship, and study how we act romantically."

"Of course, I'd be perfectly happy if you just went at it and started making me more test subjects."

"More test subjects...? How?" At this point Chell realized exactly _how _basic his knowledge on the subject was.

"Okay. That's enough discussion for one day."

"Fine. GLaDOS sighed. "It's late afternoon, so I suspect you'll be wanting some food." She immediately summoned a table from the floor. It was covered in all kinds of delicious foods he... didn't know how to eat. Obviously, both GLaDOS overlooked this simple but crucial fact, as neither of them showed signs of teaching him. He stood there waiting. He saw Chell pull out a chair to sit down, and imitated her motions. He watched her pick up a fork and sink the prongs into a piece of beef. He stared intently at her as she put it into her mouth and chewed it. He did the same. She picked up another piece and chewed that one as well. Where had the first piece gone? He wondered, as his food was still slopping around in his mouth. Was it supposed to disintegrate? Chell eventually realized that he had no idea what he was doing. She was hardly able to hold back a laugh as she explained the process of swallowing to him. He was very cautious at first, not seeing how this was supposed to work. He knew he needed his throat for breathing, he could feel the air go down and through some type of tube, he supposed, to make his chest rise and fall. He also knew that when a human's chest stopped moving, they were no longer living. It seemed safe enough though, she seemed fine. He wasn't sure how much he was supposed to eat, so he took exactly the same amount as Chell, figuring she knew what she was doing. After they had eaten, Chell took him back to _their _new room. It only had one bed.

"I'll sleep on the floor... if... you want me to..." Chell grinned at him and gently pushed him onto the mattress.

"We're sharing it, silly." She giggled as she fell down beside him. They lay beside each other for a while, and the whole time Wheatley was unnaturally quiet.

"GLaDOS was unusually pleasant." He noted. He hadn't realized it before, but the A.I had been pretty chummy with Chell.

"Yeah, ever since she met Caroline, she's been much more bearable. She said she deleted her, but I don't believe a word of it."

"You two seemed pretty friendly with each other."

"I guess so. She made that android body so I'd feel more comfortable talking to her. I don't think it helps much," Chell giggled, "She's still the same crazy murderess, But again, ever since she was a potato, she's been more or less looking out for me." Wheatley wasn't convinced, GLaDOS didn't seem like the person to simply forgive anyone for murdering her. It had to be a trick... but she had seemed pretty happy to be around Chell, and had even let her bring him back from space. That was pretty drastic by Her standards. Still, he was definitely going to keep as close an eye on her as she was on him. He shivered at the thought of her champagne eyes watching them talk. He pulled the covers up over his head, and was immediately overcome by a wave of exhaustion. He had only been awake for a couple of hours, but after years in cryogenic storage, this body was certainly not ideal. He snuggled up against Chell, who wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and held his head to her neck. He was warm, and safe, and happy. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this good. He was with her. He dozed off, only partially aware that she was humming softly to him.

_Authors Note: I'm debating whether or not to put any smuttiness in here. I guess I'll leave it up to you. I've never tried to write any smut before, so it could turn out pretty bad. Also it will not be very graphic... and it will be awkward. I can promise you that. Yeah. That pretty much takes all the smuttiness out of smut. Anyways... up to you. _


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